Automatically-flushing mat



Sept. .11, 1923. mamm A. P. RITTER AUTOMAT ICALLY FLUSHING MAT Filed June 2, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 llu mlIH i Sept 11, 1923. mfimm A. RITTER v AUTOMATICALLY FLUSHING MAT Filed June 2. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IFMEQTEIH Patented Sept. 11, 1923..

UNHTEE fiTATES ADOLPH P. BITTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATICALLY-FLUSHING MAT.

Application filed June 2, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that '1, ADoLPH P. Rrr'rnn, a former subject of the Czar of Russia (who has declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States) and now a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in an Automatically-Flushing Mat; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the numerals of reference marked thereon.

This invention is related to devices for cleaning shoes and particularly to those which are placed at the entrances of buildings. It is especially concerned with such devices wherein provision is made for washing away the dirt deposited from the shoe.

It is an object of this invention to provide automatically for the supply of water for such washing.

It is a further object of this invention to provide water for washing away the dirt deposited and at the same time prevent waste of water.

It is a further object of this invention to locate the shoe cleaning device so that a person entering the building will be unlikely to overlook the dem'rability of using it.

It is a further object of this invention to mechanically connect the device for scraping dirt from the shoe and the device for supplying water so that the water will be automatically provided by the act of using the scraper.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a means for preventing the water or the mixture of dirt and water from being frozen.

Other and further important objects of this invention will be apparent from the disclosures in the drawings and specification.

The invention (in a perferred form) is illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully described.

On the drawings:

' Figure 1 is a plan view of the device.

Figure 2 is a section upon the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken just below the grating, certain parts being omitted.

Figure 4: is a sectionupon the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Serial No. 474,555.

As shown on the drawings:

The device includes a grating 1 which may be set in the platform at the approach to a flight of steps or may be included in a tread of one of the steps as desired. The next tread 2 of the flight of steps houses a cylindrical scraper 3 which is illuminated by a lamp 1 in order that it may not readily be overlooked. The riser of the step 2 is cut away as shown at 5 to give access to the scraper. The scraper is mounted upon a long, nearly vertical lever 6 which is pivoted at 7 near the lower end of a depression in the casing 8. From the lower end of this depression goes a drain pipe 9 and the pivot 7 is near the mouth of this drain pipe.

A link 10 is pivoted to the lever and passes through an opening 11 in the rear wall of the casing. This link connects to a bell crank 12 which operates a flushing device by means of which the water contained in a tank 13 is delivered to the interior of the casing 8. This tank is filled from a supply pipe 1 and the control of the level of the water therein is effected by any usual means. The water deliverd from the tank 13 goes through the pipe 15 into a space 1.6 within the casing 8.

This space 16 is bounded on the outside and the bottom by the casing 8. On the inside, it is bounded by a wall 17 having near its upper edge a shoulder by which it joins the wall 18 forming a receptacle beneath the grating. Between the upper part of the walls 18 and the exterior wall of the casing 8, there is a heating coil 19. The steam or hot water used for heating is brought to this coil by one of two pipes 20 and led away by the other. The space containing this coil is closed at the bottom by a partition 21 which separates this space from the space 16.

The wall 17 below the partition 21 isperforated as indicated at 22. Some of the perforations are in the shoulder and face upward but most of them' are in the vertical part of the wall 17 and face inward. The shoulder and wall 17 form together a floor to the receptacle with a large opening in the middle of said floor. The wall 18 is pro vided near the top with an angle iron 23 which serves for a support for the grating. The upper end of the space containing the heating coil is closed by a plate 24 and the outer wall of this space is provided with an angle iron 25- which serves as the means for attaching the device to the platform in which it is placed. The angle iron 25 is offset toward the rear at the center of the rear edge of the grating to surround the top of that portion of the casing 8 which accommodates the lever 6 as shown at 26 in Figure 1.

The portion of the casing 8 which is immediately under the receptacle has sloping sides 27 and a sloping floor 28. At the rear edge of the floor 28 this casing has a vertical wall 29 forming one side of the depression containing the lever 6 and leading to the drain pipe 9. The opposite wall 30 of this depression is oblique to accommodate the rearmost position of the lever 6 and the floor 31 of the depression has a collar 32 by which connection is made with the drain pipe 9. From any convenient point in the wall 18 goes an overflow pipe 33 which enters the drain pipe 9 below the collar 32.

In the operation of this device, the person entering the building has his attention called to the scraper 3 as he approaches the steps 2, because this scraper is illuminated by the lamp 4. He therefore steps upon the grating 1 and puts his foot through the opening 5 onto the scraper 3. \Vithdrawing his foot will. move the scraper 3 outward until it,

contacts with the grating 1. slot 3 1 is made in the grating to accommodate the for ward motion of this lever. The dirt removed from the wearers shoe will fall; through the grating 1 into the receptacle; At the same time, the forward motion of the lever operates the flush tank 13 and causes a flow of water through the pipe 15 into the space 16 and through the perforations 22 into the receptacle. The dirt which this water finds in the receptacle is thus washed down the walls 27 and the floor 28 into the depression and passes down the drain pipe 9.

The flow of water continues until the quantity which the tank 13 is designed to deliver has been sent through the pipe 15. If the lever. is operated, a second time, for example by the person scraping the other feet before this quantity has passed, the flow will be but slightly increased. A second full sized flow will not occur until the lever has remained in its rear position long enough for the pipe 14 to fill the tank 13 to the predetermined level. If by any accident the drain pipe 9 should be stopped up, the water which flows into the receptacle will be led away through the overflow pipe 33. When the person removes his foot fro-m the scrape-r 3, the weight of the parts .in the flush tank together with the action of the water will draw the lever 6 back to the illustrated position and the flow of the water through pipe 14: will cease as soon as the tank is again filled to the predetermined level.

If the gra ting l is fitted-in an out-of-door platform leading to the entrance of a building, may happen in winter that the water in the receptacle becomes frozen. To prevent this, the heating coil 19 is furnished together with the supply pipes 20. This also serves to melt any snow removed from the shoes. It'will also be obvious that where the device is installed in a vestibule or hall, the heating coil 19 will als heat the room and thus obviate the use of the usual radiator.

I am aware that numerous details of constrnction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purposelimiting the patent granted otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1 In combination, a grating, a. receptacle beneath the grating, shoe cleaning means above the grating, and means controlled by the shoe'cleanin'g means for supplying flush water to the receptacle;

2. A grating, a receptacle beneath the grating, said receptacle having a downwardly extending depression, a lever pivoted in said depression, means at the upper end ,of said lever for movingthe same, and

means operated by said lever for supplying flush water to the receptacle.

In testimony whereof have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ADOLPI-I P. BITTER.

Witnesses I f' III-LL31 I -a CARLTON HILL. 

